The Journal
History, literature, place and the pleasures of a cultivated life. For the curious mind, at home and abroad.
Read Myrtle on SubstackThe art of
paying attention.
An Introduction to Myrtle's philosophy of place
Before you go,
begin to wonder.
How can we move throughout the world with not only awe, but with genuine understanding and intellectual appreciation? Read the introduction to the knowledge that Myrtle cultivates through literature, conversation and attention to place.
Read the essay
“One’s destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things.”
A journey often begins with a list: a city, a museum, a restaurant, a view. Myrtle begins with the desire to understand the context beneath each of these sites. Why has this city come to be situated here? What histories, conflicts and natural forces have shaped this landscape? Who has crossed this sea, and who and what were here when they did? Which laws, borders, beliefs and stories have made this place as we experience it today?
The Journal is where Myrtle follows those questions. Through essays and reflections on history, geography, politics, law, literature, culture and the natural world, it looks far beyond the surface of a destination to genuinely engage with the forces that have shaped it.
Myrtle does not ask the reader to become an expert before they leave. It asks for attentiveness: to read a little more widely, to look more closely, to listen carefully and to remain open to what is not yet understood.
The purpose of the Myrtle Journal is therefore to deepen the way we encounter the world before, during and after a journey. It is a place for context, interpretation and ideas. For understanding how people, power, place and history intersect, and how that understanding changes the experience of travel.
A journey should leave us with more than photographs and recommendations. It should leave us with better questions, a broader frame of reference and a richer understanding of both the places we visit and the home to which we return.
